1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system, method, and computer program product for scheduling the execution of computer processes in a network environment.
2. Related Art
Known distributed computing systems are useful for performing a variety of different computing tasks. “Distributed” refers to physically separated computers that are capable of communicating with one another and/or with a central computer. One such system includes a plurality of distributed computers, wherein each of the computers has its own operating system, which is different from at least one of the other computers. For example, numerous Unix-based computers execute computer programs compatible with Unix, while numerous Microsoft Windows NT based computers execute computer programs compatible with Windows NT. The Unix compatible computer programs can be incompatible with the Windows NT based computers, and vice versa. The Unix and Windows NT compatible programs are collectively referred to as cross-platform processes because the processes collectively execute on plural computer platforms, wherein each computer platform respectively hosts an operating system different from the operating systems hosted by at least one of the other computer platforms.
It is desirable in such a distributed system to coordinate the execution of the computer programs on the distributed computers, so as to achieve one or more useful results. Coordinating the execution of the computer programs requires scheduling the computer programs to execute on the different, incompatible, and distributed Unix and Windows NT based computers. It is desirable to schedule the computer programs to execute in a preferably user defined executing sequence. It is further desirable to schedule the computer programs to execute in a sequence that depends on the execution results produced by executing or executed computer programs. It is even further desirable to define the scheduling sequence and then control the scheduling sequence (that is, the sequence in which the distributed computer programs are executed) from a centralized location and computer.
Therefore, what is needed is a system, method and computer program product for coordinating the execution of the computer programs on distributed computers and having the above-mentioned desirable features.